USA: The Hunger Site Marks First Year of Helping To Feed the World's Hungry More Than 70 Million Worldwide Have Visited This Pioneering Click-to-donate Site

The Hunger Site (www.thehungersite.com), the world's leading "click to donate" web site, celebrates its first anniversary this month.

Designed to make it easy to help fight world hunger everyday, The Hunger Site allows individuals to donate free food with the click of their mouse.

In the last twelve months, more than 70 million people have clicked on The Hunger Site in over 180 countries. Together they have generated more than 150 million cups of food for the world's hungry, paid for by corporate sponsors.

The donations go directly to the World Food Programme (WFP), the United Nations' front-line agency in the battle against global hunger, which is using the money to deliver food aid worldwide, including outreach to countries such as Bhutan, Bolivia, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Haiti, India, Mozambique, Nepal, Pakistan and Venezuela.

"The Hunger Site's contribution has been extraordinary, thanks to the many people who click daily, and the corporations who pay for their donations," said Catherine Bertini, Executive Director of the World Food Programme. "Not only has this site generated much-needed funds for our work, it has also created a great deal of awareness of hunger and its consequences ... a vital step on the road towards a world without hunger."

Approximately 24,000 people die each day from hunger or hunger-related causes. That translates into one person dying every 3.6 seconds -- 75% of which are children. The majority of hunger-related deaths are caused by chronic malnutrition; families simply cannot get enough to eat. Impaired vision, listlessness, stunted growth and greatly increased susceptibility to disease also result from chronic malnutrition and affect an estimated 800 million people worldwide.

WFP projects supported by The Hunger Site's donations are encouraging hungry children across the world to go to school by offering school lunches and snacks. The donations are also directly helping communities hit by drought and floods better prepare for emergencies.

Joining Forces with GreaterGood.com

In February 2000, GreaterGood.com (www.greatergood.com) took over stewardship of The Hunger Site. After its phenomenal growth, management of the site had become an overwhelming task for its founder. An early and consistent supporter of the site, GreaterGood.com committed to investing the technical and human resources required to make The Hunger Site a powerful tool in the fight against world hunger.

"Our mission is to give people opportunities to make a difference in the world via the Internet," said Randy Dirth, chief executive officer of GreaterGood.com. "This led us to assume stewardship of the The Hunger Site and incorporate new ways for supporters to help alleviate one of the world's worst problems -- hunger."

In May, with the support of over 100 brand-name merchants, GreaterGood.com introduced The Hunger Site Shopping Village (www.thehungersite.greatergood.com), where every dollar spent automatically contributes a cup of food to the World Food Programme -- at no additional cost to the shopper. The Hunger Site Shopping Village allows Internet users to buy gifts and everyday items at stores like Amazon.com®, NORDSTROM.com, priceline.com, L.L. Bean, ToysRUs.com, 1-800 FLOWERS.COM(SM) and OfficeMax.com and help fight hunger at the same time.

GreaterGood.com has also launched the The Rainforest Site (www.therainforestsite.com) in a further effort to use the Internet for social change. The connection to The Hunger Site is clear -- rainforest depletion causes weather changes that result in drought and flooding -- putting the world's crops at risk and leading to increased hunger. By protecting the rainforest, this threat is reduced. Built on the same model as The Hunger Site, visitors to The Rainforest Site can click on the "Donate Land -- Free" button once a day, and an area of rainforest is donated to The Nature Conservancy's Adopt an Acre® program, paid for by site sponsors.

With an average of over 4 million unique visitors each month, The Hunger Site has become one of the most trafficked sites on the Internet. Its grassroots popularity has recently been recognized with two prestigious Web awards in the activism category -- the 2000 Cool Site of the Year Award and the People's Voice winner at the 2000 Webby Awards.

About GreaterGood.com

GreaterGood.com (www.greatergood.com) is the leading cause-related ecommerce company, dedicated to helping not-for-profit organizations tap into the rapidly growing online giving and shopping markets. GreaterGood.com works with organizations such as The Nature Conservancy, Special Olympics, Save the Children, the World Food Programme and World Wildlife Fund, as well as K-12 schools, colleges and universities. Based in Seattle, GreaterGood.com operates over 3,000 shopping villages, where a portion of every purchase goes back to the shopper's chosen cause -- at no extra cost to them. GreaterGood.com is also the steward of The Hunger Site (www.thehungersite.com), the world's first "click-to-donate" site where visitors are able to generate food to help feed the world's hungry, and its cousin property, The Rainforest Site (www.therainforestsite.com) where visitors donate land to preserve the world's rainforests. Representing a base of more than 500,000 Internet users who have registered to benefit a cause with their online activity, GreaterGood.com, Inc. is among the world's most popular Web sites, ranking in the top 200 most visited properties on the Internet.

About World Food Programme

The United Nations World Food is the frontline United Nations organization fighting to eradicate world hunger -- whether it is the hunger that suddenly afflicts people fleeing ethnic conflict in Rwanda or Bosnia or the chronic hunger that affects the hungry poor in countries such as Bangladesh or India. WFP became operational in 1963 and is now the world's largest international food aid organization. Last year, WFP helped feed 86 million people including more than half of the world's refugees and internally displaced people. The World Food Programme has emergency and development projects in 82 countries worldwide and a staff of more than 5,000.

P.S: If you liked this article, you might enjoy the just-food newsletter.
Receive our latest content delivered right to your inbox.

Flowers Foods has reached an agreement to acquire Derst Baking Company. The transaction, expected to be complete within a few weeks, will be accomplished as a merger involving the exchange of Flowers ...

Packaged bakery foods company Flowers Foods has announced that its subsidiary in New Orleans, which has been closed since late August following Hurricane Katrina, started operating again late last wee...

Packaged bakery foods company Flowers Foods has announced that George E Deese, currently president and chief executive officer, has been elected to the additional position of chairman of the board eff...

You are agreeing for just-food.com to send you newsletters and/or other information about our products and services that are relevant to you by email.
Clicking above tells us that you're OK with both this and with our privacy policy, terms and conditions and cookie policy.
You can opt out of individual newsletters or contact methods at any time in the 'Your Account' area.
We'll only keep your data for as long as you choose to receive information from just-food.